Black Panther
Despite a brilliant tactical mind and a stockpile of Vibranium weapons, the warrior-prince T'Challa found himself in exile from his African nation of Wakanda. Secretive and suspicious by nature, the proud T'Challa doesn't come by allies easily. And yet to reclaim his throne and bring reform to his homeland, the BLACK PANTHER must pair his enhanced strength and senses with the only ones who can help him reclaim his kingdom… THE AVENGERS! Origin The Black Panther is the ruler of Wakanda. Citizens of the country are members of a spiritually-based warrior cult, which gives the leader of the country spiritual, political and military authority. The Black Panther is a hereditary title, but one still has to earn it. The series of tests that a Panther must pass are so arduous that only candidates who've had special training from childhood can qualify. But just so everyone gets a chance, once a year there's a day when any Wakandan can challenge the king for the throne. T'Challa being the son of T'Chaka put him in line to be the next king of Wakanda and the Panther, but even as young super genius, T'Challa was not yet ready to become the leader of the nation, but felt his childhood ended the day his father died and that it was time to start act as a king would. So S'yan, T'Chaka's younger brother and T'Challa's uncle, undertook the Black Panther trials. S'yan passed and became the Black Panther. While on his Wakandan Walkabout rite of passage during his youth, T'Challa met and fell in love with the apparently orphaned teen named Ororo Munroe, later known as Storm, a member of the X-Men. The two broke off their relationship due to his need to avenge his father’s death and to become the type of man who could lead the nation of Wakanda, but they would see each other over the years when they could. After studying Wakanda, young T'Challa traveled around the world to learn, study and train. Major Story Arcs A huge meteorite made of the mineral known as vibranium crashes in Wakanda. T‘Chaka, King of Wakanda, knows that outsiders will try to manipulate or destroy Wakanda for this valuable resource. So King T'Chaka conceals his country from the outside world. T‘Chaka's first wife and mother of T'Challa, N'Yami, dies while in labor with T’Challa, so T'Challa is raised by his father and his second wife, the Queen Mother Ramonda until explorer Ulysses Klaw finds his way to Wakanda and creates a vibranium-powered, sound-based weapon. When Klaw is discovered, he kills King T’Chaka. His son T’Challa, who is just a boy, turns the sound weapon on Klaw and destroys Klaw’s right hand. Klaw and his men flea Wakanda swearing to return one day. To test his powers, fighting skill and genius, King T'Challa invites the American superhero team the Fantastic Four to Wakanda. He attacks, neutralizes and defeats them individually, Reed Richards comments often asking how T'challa has made a Forrest seem so real even though he realizes it is actually man-made . T'Challa apologizes for attacking them and explains he wanted to test the team to see if they would be an effective ally against Klaw and his mercenaries. They all become fast friends and allies. The more Wakanda becomes a technological global power, the more T'Challa realizes the threats of the outside world. While developing nuclear weaponry inside Wakanda, he begins to invite super-powered people to his country, as well as infiltrate groups like the Avengers in an effort to test the limitations of their abilities. Once he finds out what kind of people they are, T'Challa sees them as allies as well as friends. Even so, he only allows most members of the Avengers to know him as Luke Charles, an American teacher romantically involved with a singer named Monica Lynne. For the next few years, T'Challa lives three lives, one in America as a teacher, one as an Avenger, and one in Wakanda as King. The many threats to his Kingdom continue, including Killmonger, Madame Slay, the Supremacists of Azania, Solomon Prey, Moses Magnum, the Soul-Strangler, Kiber the Cruel, Windeagle, Baron Macabre, and more. On a mission to recover the Brass Frogs, T'Challa meets a future version of himself who is telepathic and fatally sick. Attempting to change this future, he breaks up with Monica Lynne and kept his future body in cryo-stasis. Wakanda almost goes to war with Atlantis and Namor, during an incident on Kiber Island. T'Challa then discovers that the Queen Mother had not left his family, but was kidnapped and made into a South African slave by Anton Pretorius. He rescues her and later joins the Knights of Pendragon while learning that he has a Pendragon Spirit within. T'Challa also helps Black Axe and Afrikaa, to expose the efforts of Cardinal Technology to escalate the civil war in Mohannda. Later, Moses Magnum takes over the Wakandan neighbor nation of Canaan and sends a Canaanite spy to Wakanda. Once T'Challa discovers and defeats the spy, he travels to Canaan to confront King Baru (its true ruler). Once there, he finds out that Magnum disposed Baru and now controls the nation. Magnum then sends an assassin to kill T'Challa and declares war on Wakanda, but is soon defeated by the combined efforts of the Black Panther and Deathlok. After Magnum's defeat, the people of Canaan reject Baru's leadership. No longer king of Canaan, Baru chooses to remain in Wakanda, observing a period of mourning. Empowered by the demon Mephisto, Reverend Achebe leads a coup on Wakanda backed by Xcon, an alliance of rogue intelligence agents and the Russian mafia. In exchange for Mephisto abandoning Achebe and leaving Wakanda in peace, T'Challa sells his soul to him, knowing that his unity with the Panther God and its link to the spirits of past Panther Clan leaders would ruin Mephisto’s plans. Demanding sanctions against America over the Xcon coup, T’Challa links the United States to it and presents evidence to the United Nations. Nakia attempts to kill Monica Lynne and is replaced in the Dora Milaje with Queen Divine Justice. Distraught and alone, Nakia is captured, tortured and almost killed by Achebe before Killmonger rebuilds her into Malice . Killmonger also attempts to wipe out Wakanda’s economy, so T’Challa is forced to nationalize all foreign companies. This results in Tony Stark having a controlling interest in the Wakandan Design Group. After the economy is once again stabilized, T’Challa fights Killmonger in ritual combat and is almost killed, but loses the Black Panther title instead of his life. Moon Knight and Brother Voodoo mystically nurse. T’Challa back to health while Killmonger attempts to join the Avengers as the newest Black Panther. Soon after, Deadpool and other mercenaries attack Wakanda on behalf of Achebe, and the Avengers are forced to respond. While they are in Wakanda, Killmonger is supposedly killed and T’Challa is re-established as Black Panther. The criminal Nightshade resurrects the fabled Chinese monster Chiantang the Black Dragon to use against T'Challa back in New York. Black Dragon has a mind-controlled Iron Fist attack Black Panther. The assault causes the fatal sickness the future Panther had originally predicted. Nightshade, meanwhile, manages to revive the future Panther. After the conflict with Killmonger, Ororo travels to Wakanda to visit T’Challa. While giving the nation a look over, they find a Deviant mother and her human-like Deviant Child in Wakanda. Priest Lord Ghaur ruler of the Deviants demands their release, which King T'Challa refuses. This sparks an international incident, and nearly plunges Wakanda into war with Lemuria and its Priest Lord Ghaur and Atlantis and its ruler Namor. Genosha and its ruler Magneto and Latveria and its monarch Dr. Doom are drawn into the conflict, and set the stage for a potential World War 3. White Wolf teams up with Klaw and trick Wakanda, Lemuria and Atlantis into firing upon each other, but T'Challa and Everett K. Ross eventually discern that the child is Ghaur's daughter. Ghaur fears the scandal that will erupt if it becomes known he has sired such a human-like offspring. Ghaur ultimately stands down, and the mother and child are placed in the custody of Namor, with their deaths faked for the sake of the public. Meanwhile, White Wolf takes over Xcon and kills most of its leaders. The previous Xcon leadership used King Solomon's Frogs to replace the U.S. President and Canadian Prime Minister with brainwashed future counterparts, allowing the company to overthrow both countries. Hunter continues with this plan and exacts revenge on Tony Stark for his buyout of Wakandan Design Group. Afraid for Tony, T’Challa sends him a message by using financial finagling to seize control of Stark Enterprises and simultaneously annex a small Canadian island in Lake Superior. This prompts the U.S. and Canadian leaders to meet to discuss this crisis. The coordination of these leaders allow Panther and his allies, including the future Panther, to invade the White House and foil Xcon's plot, thereby un-brainwashing the duplicate leaders and returning them to their own times. As Panther returns to Wakanda, the future Panther falls into a coma and is placed back into stasis until he is killed by Man-Ape. Man-Ape is then freed by Divine Justice in the hope of freeing her tribe. After all of this, the original T'Challa becomes unstable and constantly hallucinates. He attacks the Jabari tribe with the intent of wiping them out; but accidentally almost kills Divine Justice. This causes him to come to his senses and stop the battle. Unable to face his nearly killing the young woman, the Panther goes into hiding in New York and hands Wakanda over to his council. A policeman named Kasper Cole adopts an abandoned Panther costume and seeks out T’Challa for training and guidance. This incident gives T'Challa the strength to once again fight for his health, his nation and his world. T'Challa rejoins the Avengers, who battle Scorpio, and unmask U.S. Defense Secretary Dell Rusk as the evil Red Skull with T'Challa defeating the Skull. Also T'Challa and Tony Stark go into business together and sign an agreement for Wakandan Design Group and Stark Industries to share scientific discoveries. The team is disbanded after the Scarlet Witch has a mental breakdown. T'Challa then helps the neighboring nation of Niganda overthrow their tyrant ruler M'Butu. The Russian super villain scientist Ivan Kragoff and his Super-Apes ( Miklho, Igor and Peotor) try to take over the nation, but are defeated by the Black Panther and a team of X-Men. Some time in the aftermath of the Kree-Skrull War T'Challa, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Mr. Fantastic, Black Bolt, Professor X and Namor all meet in Wakanda. Iron Man proposes that they form a government of superhumans similar to the United Nations, not be anti-establishment, but rather a form of 'counter-establishment' who would meet regularly in secret and try to protect earth in secret without teammates, families, etc. After some debate, all except T'Challa agree to form this Illuminati. T'Challa declines because he predicts its failure due to them deciding they and they alone would be the protectors of earth and that the association would end up taking part in less than altruistic actions. After teaming up with the X-Men, T'Challa and Ororo Munroe begin dating each other again. T'Challa help her to reunite with her surviving family members in both Africa and the U.S., and proposes marriage shortly afterward. The two are married in a grand Wakandan ceremony, and then head off on a diplomatic world tour for their honeymoon. They visit the nations of Latveria, Britain, Atlantis, and the Inhumans on the Blue Area of the Moon on their way to their final stop in the U.S. There, the nation is gripped by the events of the Civil War, and while visiting the White House, the authorities attempt to force Ororo to sign the Superhuman Registration Act despite her status as a ruling dignitary. This results in the royal couple choosing to side with Captain America and the Secret Avengers in the war. While a member of the Secret Avengers, T'Challa discovers that Tigra (who had also joined the Secret Avengers) is actually a spy for Iron Man's Avengers and helped free the some of the incarcerated heroes of the 42 complex. At the conclusion of the superhero Civil War, the Wakanda embassy in New York is destroyed, leaving T'Challa, Storm, and their support staff without a home while in the city. Meanwhile, Reed and Sue Richards decide to “take a break” from the Fantastic Four, leaving openings on the team. When T'Challa, Ororo, Reed and Sue meet for dinner, the Richardses tell them of their plans and offer the Baxter Building as a temporary embassy and ask them to join the Fantastic Four while they are away. T'Challa & Ororo accept the offer and form a new Fantastic Four with the Thing and the Human Torch. While members of the FF, T'Challa and Ororo help save Gravity, team up with Michael Collins ( Deathlok) and Doctor Strange, and battle the Frightful Four, Heralds of Galactus, Marvel Zombies, Skrulls, Psycho-Man, save Reed Richards's life and stop a rip in the space-time continuum from destroying universe. Once Reed and Sue settle their differences, they rejoin the FF, and both T'Challa and Ororo leave the team. When the Skrulls try to take over Wakanda for their vibranium ore in their invasion, a battle between the forces of Wakanda and the forces of the Skrulls begins. Black Panther decisively defends his nation with cunning tactics and rallying his soldiers. Eventually the two opponents find themselves at a loss of technological weaponry. After this happens, the forces break out older weapons to continue the conflict. Black Panther holds back the Super-Skrulls (including a massively large Skrull with the powers of Iron Fist, Wolverine, Luke Cage and Bullseye), while his legion fends off the infantry. When the Wakandans start to decline, the Skrulls capture Storm and threaten to kill her. Black Panther retaliates by chopping a Super-Skrull's head off and then allowing himself to be captured. He and Ororo use Wakandan-made vocal manipulators and flesh transmuters to disguise themselves while on board the ship. They also use the same vocal manipulators and flesh transmuters on the Skrulls who had captured them, fooling the other Skrulls to believe they have captured the real Black Panther and Storm. T'Challa and Ororo then reveal themselves to Commander K'VVR by killing him and then proceed to kill every Skrull on the ship. Meanwhile, Shuri and S'yan lead the Wakandan Army on the battlefield and kill every Skrull outside. Then the Wakandans load all of the dead Skrull bodies on the ship and send it back to space with a message written in Skrull blood stating: THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU INVADE WAKANDA ( this is once it is translated from Skrull to English). Shortly after the Secret Invasion, Ororo's life as an X-Man and a queen comes into conflict when a mission with Cyclops is interrupted. Storm is called back home to Wakanda to investigate a murder that involves her mutant ward, Nehzno (Gentle). During the course of the investigation, Storm discovers that Nezhno was innocent and orders him freed from imprisonment. Almost immediately, she is confronted by the Wakandan military, who insist that she surrender into their custody by order of the king himself. When T'Challa confronts Storm, she is immediately pulled into the astral plane and the Shadow King reveals himself to be the one who had caused Nezhno to murder the mystic, and manipulated T'Challa and the people of Wakanda as well as Cyclops and the X-Men. Storm prays to the panther god Bast for help and is pulled into the spirit world. Bast expresses disappointment with Storm, but Storm stands her ground and proves her strength of spirit to the panther god, so back on Earth numerous black panthers run to Storm and bow to her, restoring the trust and faith of the Wakandan people in Storm and freeing them from the Shadow King's control. Storm and Nezhno take off to San Francisco to save the X-Men. After a brief fight, Storm creates a tornado to take out the possessed X-Men and goes to confront Cyclops outside. Storm is able to trap the Shadow King into entering her mind where Bast had been hiding. The Shadow King is devoured by Bast in retribution for his attack on its people. Storm is able to revive Cyclops, and proves that she does not have to choose between her life as a queen and an X-Man: she will be both. After the events of the Secret Invasion, a regime change occurs in western society. S.H.I.E.L.D. is disbanded and Tony Stark is fired in favor of a new organization called H.A.M.M.E.R., headed by Norman Osborn. T'Challa is surprised when he receives a summons from the exiled Atlantean King, Namor. Meeting with him, T'Challa learns of the creation of a dark group mirroring the Illuminati. Namor asks him to join with this Dark Illuminati, to which T'Challa refuses, citing his preference for the Illuminati. Warning him that his country would be an island, Namor takes his leave. Getting ready to depart himself, T'Challa is surprised to find Dr. Doom waiting for him in the courtyard. Unsurprised by his refusal to join their Cabal, a battle ensues, pitting T'Challa and his Dora Milaje against Doom and his machines. After a vicious fight that results in one of his Dora Milaje sacrificing her life to save a gravely injured T'Challa, he and the remaining Dora Milaje manage to escape, heading back to Wakanda. They manage to crash land in Wakanda, but the combination of the fight with Doom and the crash puts T'Challa into a coma and leaves Wakanda without a Black Panther for the first time. Storm nominates Shuri, T'Challa's sister, to take up the mantle of the Black Panther. At the same time, the Lion Cult senses the weakened Panther totem, and summon Morlun, the devourer of totems, who rushes toward a vulnerable Wakanda to consume T'Challa, the Panther totem. Though Shuri successfully completes the trials to prove her worthiness of the Black Panther title, she is painfully rejected by the Panther God, who senses she wants to become the Black Panther for her own selfish reasons instead of the betterment of her country. Upon his arrival to Wakanda, Morlun completely decimates the military forces and is moments away from devouring the Panther totem when Shuri arrived. Despite the seeming rejection by Bast, Shuri battles Morlun, and is able to lure him into a trap set by her and Zawavari, a Wakandan witch doctor. The battle takes them right into Zawavari's home, where the witch doctor uses his mystical powers to transport Morlun to Limbo, where his soul-saturated essence proved irresistible to Death, who releases T'Challa and Storm's souls and keeps Morlun's in their place. Shuri later discovers that she earned the mantle of the Black Panther through her self-sacrificing act to save Wakanda,. After the battles with both Death and Morlun, T'Challa discovers just how deep the Doom attack was. That not only did Doom attempt to assassinate him, but he also infected most of the royal family and many top aides with his nanites (microscopic devices that relayed everything the infected heard or said). With that knowledge, T'Challa was unable to tell most of his loved ones or his military of the identity of his attacker and/or enlist their aid. Shuri was left uninfected due to her Bast/Panther powers. So T'Challa, a man of science, is forced turn to magic and to go almost completely off the grid to plan to stop Doom while Shuri acts as the Princess Regent of Wakanda and the Black Panther. T'Challa turns to Zawavari for assistance, who empowers T'Challa with his Acolytes with enhanced strength, senses and a resistance to magical attacks. He then creates a new combat style with Aneka that blends science and sorcery with their most vicious fighting secrets to teach the Dora Milaje so they will be ready for the coming battle. Doom continues to fund the Desturi (a Wakandan dissident group dedicated to civil unrest) and not attack Wakanda openly knowing he would fail. Walter Declun, Doom's chief of operations, lays a trail of disinformation to distract Shuri, Ororo and T'Challa long enough for the Desturi to overthrow the Panther cult in a well co-ordinated coup. With the Desturi coup successful, they place Ororo, S'yan and the Queen Mother in jail to await trial. Meanwhile, T'Challa, Shuri, the Dora Milaje, FF and some of the X-Men race back to Wakanda to restore order. While T'Challa, his forces and allies take control back from the Desturi, Doom manages to steal the processed vibranium. Storm, Black Panther (Shuri), the Dora Milaje and the Fantastic Four then attack Doom's networks and facilities throughout the world while T'Challa sets his plan in motion to save the world. With Doom becoming the one with the processed vibranium, he uses his power to control any object or structure that contains vibranium to initiate attacks worldwide. The heroes arrive in Latveria and its neighboring country Symkaria to meet Doom on the battle field. T'Challa plants a remote-control device on Doom's armor to make processed vibranium useless. Doom's armor is rendered useless, his newfound power is removed, and all of the processed vibranium around the world is rendered inert. Storm destroys all the Doombots. The royal family then returns to Wakanda to store the remaining portions of the recovered vibranium with the aid of the X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four and others. fter the events of Shadowland and Doomwar, T'Challa reaches an agreement with Matt Murdock and becomes the new protector of Hell's Kitchen. After being forced to destroy Wakanda's vibranium reserves to defeat Doctor Doom, he relinquishes the title of Black Panther to his sister Shuri. Believing his path and Murdock's to mirror each other, he seeks redemption for himself. Thanks to some help from Foggy Nelson, he establishes an undercover identity in Hell's Kitchen as Mr. Okonkwo, the manager of the Devil's Kitchen restaurant. Through this civilian identity, T'Challa seeks to familiarize himself with his new neighbors in the Hell's Kitchen area. Part of his new venture is relinquishing every aspect of the Black Panther identity. He no longer has his Wakandan tech, metahuman abilities or his vibranium suit. He refuses to return to Wakanda until he has redeemed himself through this personal mission and has left Wakanda in the care of Shuri and Storm. Powers Thanks to the Heart Shaped Herb , T'Challa has enhanced speed, agility, strength, endurance, healing and senses. All of these attributes are raised to near superhuman levels. With his enhanced senses, the Black Panther can see in complete and total darkness as if it was bright as day, and can see something a hundred feet away as if it were right in front of him. With his sense of smell, he can track someone across a continent, memorize tens of thousands of smells and can detect fear and lies within a person. He can hear things that normal humans can't, as well as sounds that they can, but at a distance not possible with normal ears. He can hear the breathing and heartbeats of enemies. With his sense of taste he can determine any ingredients in anything he eats. He can use his senses together to sometimes predict his opponent's moves ahead of time. The Heart Shaped Herb also created a connection between T'Challa and the Panther God, the deity his people worship. On top of all his powers, T'Challa is a highly skilled martial artist, and is one of the greatest hand to hand fighters on the planet. He learned to fight both at home (from the best warriors in Wakanda) and abroad. When he was still a teenager, he traveled the world to learn various skills, some academic and others focused on physical combat. Captain America entered Wakanda during World War Two on a search-and-destroy mission. He was hunting Nazis who were out to exploit Wakandan science. He didn't know the Wakandans had already beheaded the Nazis days ago. Black Panther ( Azzari the Wise) and Captain America had an extended hand-to-hand battle. Captain America lost. In addition to all his physical strengths, the Black Panther is an intellectual giant, he's counted as one of the eight smartest people in the marvel universe. T'Challa is a scientist, engineer, inventor, aviator, weapons designer and tactical and strategical genius. He designed the Avengers' Quinjet and the Wakanda Design Group built it. T'Challa is also the religious leader of his people. He has access to the wisdom of the previous Wakandan chieftains whose souls dwell in the Panther Pavilion, a holy temple within the city. Once he even encountered and fought the embodiment of the Panther God when it manifested to test his worthiness to remain the tribal leader and to also punish him for maintaining a policy of neutrality toward South Africa during Apartheid in the 1980's. In ULTIMA Category:Protagonists Category:Society Category:Avengers